Opera Dialogues

Multi award winning Composer and Artistic Director of the Biennale Musica in Venice, Lucia Ronchetti chats with Nina about experiencing music for the first time among the faded manuscripts and broken instruments at her neighbours' apartment. This was something, along with art and books, that was lacking from her childhood home. Lucia dives into the touching reason for her insatiable curiosity, her number one enemy, and the challenges she has faced on her journey to becoming truly an icon of her generation.

Chief Executive and Director of Opera at Opera Holland Park in London, James Clutton, chats openly about his 60s musical influences, early school trips to the theatre, and learning his craft from the ground up by producing his own work, before later heading to the West End under the wing of a major commercial producer. A short-term contract turned into a life-long dedication to producing opera at Opera Holland Park, developing it from a small-scale venture to the beating heart of the London operatic scene. James shares his experience of 'un-producing' the 2020 season, and how he imagines producing opera as we know it might change to adapt to the aftermath of the Covid Crisis. James' down-to-earth attitude gives us a rare insight into the world of the friendliest, most welcoming man in the business. https://operahollandpark.com/

One of Britain's leading casting directors, Sarah Playfair chats through her formative years - from running away from her boarding school to catch Saturday matinees in London, to being Ian McKellen's dresser, onto her casting discussions with Lord Harwood and Sir Charles MacKerras. Drawing from her vast range of experience, Sarah shares her extraordinary path through many of the UK's major opera companies, alongside some tips for what catches her eye on a CV and how she feels singers can best present themselves in auditions. A unique insight into a journey which spans a time of extraordinary change in the landscape of the opera industry.

http://sarahplayfair.com/

Multi award-winning composer Philip chats with host Nina Brazier about how he works with his collaborators, how he creates work with such incredible visceral impact, and whether he feels that now is a time where the operatic form is changing for the better. His work has swept across the world's stages over the last few years signalling a whole new brand of opera. His groundbreaking adaptation of Sarah Kane's 4:48 Psychosis with director Ted Huffman won a host of awards and was described by the Observer as "challenging the conventions of opera". His second opera, Denis & Katya, again collecting awards, including most recently the Ivor Novello Award for Stage Works, confirmed his place as one of the foremost composers of his generation.

Multi award-winning Welsh soprano Fflur Wyn talks to Nina Brazier about her earliest performance at the age of three, growing up under the spotlight of a nation, and the two key people who changed the course of her operatic career. For the first time ever she opens up about working through illness and injury, dealing with self-doubt and the inner-critic, and she shares her most memorable moment on the stage. Fflur is playing Marzelline in Beethoven's Fidelio for Opera North, and the performance will be streamed live on December 12th 2020, and will be available until December 19th 2020. https://theoperapod.libsyn.com/fflur-wyn-soprano

Young director Rachael chats with Nina Brazier about her extraordinary online sensation, Virtual Opera's digital creation of L'enfant et les Sortilegès with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, created under lockdown with over 135 freelancers. She also talks about her childhood memories eating crisps in the wings of amateur dramatic productions, through to winning a Special Award for Outstanding Contribution at the Helikon Opera international directing competition in Moscow under the scrutiny of a nation.

Aurore talks openly with Nina Brazier about her childhood in a small town in central France, where her mother was determined to give her daughters the artistic education that she was denied. Deciding at school that she was destined to become the future director of the Festival D'Avignon, Aurore made her way through business school, then via Paris then Milan and eventually landed at one of Europe's most innovative opera houses, La Monnaie in Brussels.

Tim Claydon chats with Nina Brazier about the series of happy accidents that have forged his career, from his early start as a classical dancer, to flying above 20,000 people as an aerialist at the opening of the Millennium Dome, through his current – and completely unexpected - lockdown career. Tim confesses to saying yes to absolutely everything and putting his work on the forefront while bringing up a young family, and reveals his awkward role stuck between two warring factions on the show that went wrong.

Leslie Travers shares his journey from finding inspiration as a young, working-class Hartlepool boy in his local library, to becoming an internationally acclaimed, multi award-winning set designer. He chats candidly with Nina Brazier about enabling singers to deliver something truthful in a space that can initially feel quite hostile, to making sure his costumes never feel like an imposition. A vivid insight into the world of irresistible sets and character-defining costumes.

British costume designer Sue Willmington chats with Nina Brazier about her early love of music and fabric, being tested to her limit on her first job, and how she finds real joy in collaborating with a creative team. She reveals the unexpected differences between designing for singers versus actors, and gives a refreshingly down-to-earth insight both into her design process, and into the extraordinary career that she never expected.